"Exhausting a muscle" ? pls..

B

beanqueen

Cathlete
hi cathe! :)

it's so nice to see you back on the forums..we've missed you! :D

i had a question re: working a muscle to 'failure'/exhausting a muscle. is working a muscle to failure using 'heavy weights' (less reps) give different *results* vs. working a muscle to failure with moderate weight and more reps (muscle endurance).

i've learned from your videos that going heavy you can 'increase muscle mass' :) and i did the pub/plb (doing the Body for Life type program, where he espouses less cardio than what i'm used to with you and your videos) and noticed a nice change in my body..but..i 'did' increase muscle mass, (but still w/ a little fat around the muscle..bleh..) but felt a little bulkier than i would have liked. :p so, this past month i've been doing your 'july rotation' which is more moderate weights and higher reps w/ more cardio (than the BFL program).

i know we should have a variety, and change things up w/ our workouts :) ..but if my ultimate goal, is to be "leaner" (smaller overall silhouette not necessarily super muscular) am i better off doing heavy weights less reps (i.e. BFL and less cardio) or more of a muscle endurance type weight workout w/ more cardio???? :eek:

gee, i hope this made some sense..i'm so confused (can you tell?! ;) )

i'd appreciate your insights and advice re: this.

thank you so much!!! :D

have a good nite!
bq
 
Hey BQ,
I can give a little insight.
I did BFL awhile back and if you want to be lean that plan does work. I had to quit it because my metabolism is high anyway and BFL just leaned me out more than I wanted. BFL, by the way, is lighter weights, higher reps which is what you'd perform for a leaner look. For more muscle you'd go heavy weights with less reps.
Here's a link to a site that I like alot concerning lifting. Lifting can mostly be condensed into a few sets using a few basic moves and a few auxilliary moves and that's it. Alot of us waste alot of time in the gym doing things which aren't actually making any difference in the big scheme of things. I think it all revolves around truly having the correct weights loaded for a given exercise. For instance I always tended to go too heavy, I learned. And alot of other people go too light. And in both cases you won't get the results you might desire.
So.....check out this site....I thought it was very helpful.
http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html

Trevor
 
I am also curious to hear the answer to that question. I am looking to lean out myself...

One question though, I am fairly new to Cathe and this site. What is BFL?????? It sounds like something I need to know about!
 
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